I Look Good in White
by BlueMoonDuchess
Summary: Ah, but brotherly interactions isn’t what you’re confused about, now is it? I WildWing Flashblade, captain of the Mighty Ducks, am deaf. Warnings: Cursing, adult material, slash scene
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Sorry that it's been a while! This one should make up for it!

WARNING: Adult material and adult language

I am trying to read a novel. The operative word there being, "trying". I am too distracted by my younger brothers' attempts of playing with a spoon. He's bored, like me, but unlike me, he can't find something normal to do. So instead he's flipping a spoon, and trying to make it to do a perfect three-sixty and land face up. I don't know why I am allowing it to bother me, but that kid just pisses me off. I don't know why I am paying attention to it either, but deep down somewhere inside of me, I kind of want to see the spoon successfully flip, and that confession is angering me more. I try to go back to my book, but I just can't. Finally, I slam my fists down onto the table.

"What", Nosedive asks innocently.

"Would you stop that", I ask him annoyed.

"No", he states smiling, and resumes back to the spoon.

I growl at him, and once again try to concentrate on the book at hand. It might help if the book actually had a plot, but hey, at least it makes me look intelligent, unlike some people. I glare at him for extra measure, and he knows it, so what does he do? He infuriates me further and grins. Stupid brat knows he's getting to me. I punch him in the arm, hard. He looks up slightly, and grins. I should punch him again for being so damn obnoxious, but ah, I can't, and he knows he's won. His happiness is infectious. Damn kid could out grin anyone, one look at him, and you're done, it's impossible to be mad at that kid. He's one of those people that can turn boys and girls on without even meaning to. People are attracted to his craziness. I return to my book, but instances later, I am once again interrupted from my brother, as he lightly kicks my shoe. I look at him, but he isn't looking at me, and I know immediately what his intentions were.

I look to my left and see Duke standing there. Too bad it wasn't someone else, Duke is hard to read.

"What's up?" I ask.

He says something but I can't make it out. I can determine that he is asking me a question based on facial expressions, but I can't separate the words from each other. He's asking me if I have seen something of his, which is easy for me to answer, I can just reply that I haven't seen it, it doesn't really matter what it is, or if I have seen it or not.

"Sorry Duke", I say.

I can't add more because I can't tell if it would fit the context. "Sorry Duke", covers it nicely. However, this answer doesn't settle him. He says something again, it starts with a "but", and it ends with "last", although when it pronounces it, it would seem to look like "lass". But considering the context, I am positive the word is "last". I had something of his last and as I search my brain to remember anything that I could have borrowed, but thankfully I am saved by that idiot brother of mine. I can tell, because Duke changes his eye contact to behind me, and so as I look, I make out the last few words that my brother has said. "…put it in the wash."

By the time I look back to Duke to study his beak, he has finished whatever he has had to say, and looks content with whatever excuse my brother came up with. As he leaves, I snap my head around to my brother.

"He wanted to know where his sweatshirt was", Nosedive states plainly, "I told him that I had borrowed it from you, and then put it in the wash."

I nod my head, and ruffle my brother's hair, he smiles up at me, and goes back to playing with that spoon again.

Confused? Did you miss what just happened? That was my "thank you" to my brother, and his smiling was his "your welcome".

Ah, but brotherly interactions isn't what you're confused about, now is it? I WildWing Flashblade, captain of the Mighty Ducks, am deaf.

Yes deaf, as in, can't hear, yup, that kind of deaf. Still confused? Allow me to explain this lovely predicament that I have found myself in.

Yes, I am deaf. Although you'd never know it. I'll explain why I'm hiding it, just hold on, you impatient imaginary person. Okay for starters I have an excellent grasp on the English language, (most deaf people don't), I didn't go to a traditional deaf school, but I was mainstreamed, and so I am fluent in English. Yes, sign language, (my language of choice) and English are two completely different languages with different syntaxes. I have taken the liberty to translate all sign language interactions with my brother to English for you. Your welcome.

Okay next. Most deaf people can't speak and sound like a hearing person, or so I have been told, I've never been able to "hear" the difference. Speaking is based on mimicking what you hear. Hello, deaf people really can't do that, so they speak differently than hearing people. So, why can I speak? I lost my hearing at five, (pneumonia), and by that point in one's life, you have heard enough of the words to mimic them correctly. Also, I've had extensive, and I mean border-line-abusive extensive training in speaking, and in lip reading. Why can I lip read so well? Because of all that training, short and simple.

What, you don't think I handled the Duke situation very well before? Allow me to explain. He speaks with a heavy, and I mean heavy accent. I can rarely understand what he is saying. He rolls certain words, and his "r's" get lost many times. Many words that end in "er" become lost to the "r's". It is very frustrating to read his lips.

Tanya is another one, because she has somewhat of a tendency to stutter, although she has gotten better at it. Grin is another one that gives me some problems. Not because he doesn't articulate well, but because he says well, weird things. Sometimes, I have to have Nosedive affirm he said what he said, because of the statement's abnormality. But I've learned tips to deal with him; he usually just says statements, so with simple statements such as "That is true", or "Good point", I can usually get away with it.

And then there is Nosedive. Nosedive is the one person that I can trust. I have always been able to trust him, and he truly is one of my best friends, despite his annoying tendencies, like that him playing with spoons. For anything that I can't translate for myself, Nosedive is always there to back me up in someway. If it has to do with him making something up, like he just now did, (which reminds me, I need to go wash his stupid sweatshirt now), or to him restating the question in an inconspicuous way, or to the most extreme him translating it quick so no one sees it, I can always understand my brother. And if we're by ourselves, with all doors shut, he can sign, fluently. He is the only person on this planet that I can "talk" with, fully and completely, and for that I cherish our relationship, more than I ever have.

Now the juicy stuff. Yes, I don't want people to see the signs. I don't want anyone on this team to know that I am deaf. I've never pretended to be hearing in my life before, but I am now, and so far, so good. Oh, and Nosedive knows better than to tell, yeah I've dragged my sixteen year old brother into this.

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I torture myself so? Why do allow this lie to slowly kill me? Well, actually, this "suicide", was all Canard's brilliant idea. When he took me onto the team, he told me to hide my deafness, (he actually has a basic grasp on the language). He had said that if the enemies found out, they could use it against us, but most of all because he didn't want people to think that I was "handicapped" (many deaf people don't think deaf as a handicap, because if everyone was deaf, it wouldn't be a problem, so that word causes controversy, but what do I care?) on our own team. He didn't want anyone, namely Duke, (he didn't trust him yet), taking advantage, and he didn't want anyone, namely everyone, (well Mallory more than the others), second guessing me.

I now know, that they wouldn't have a problem with it, because I have proved myself, but yet, something inside of me, won't let me give up being hearing just yet. I don't know what it is. I've never really been experienced with deaf pride; I can't really relate to them.

Yes "them" as in other deaf people. Oh, another thing you should know. I don't associate myself with deaf, deaf culture, or deaf pride, nor do I associate myself with hearing culture. I just don't identify myself because it's too confusing, and one of my deepest personal problems. I hate myself for it, and than I guilt myself for feeling self-hatred on something like being deaf. Maybe that is why it is so easy for me to pretend to be hearing, and maybe that is also why it is so hard to give it up. Yes, I am a depressed little deaf boy, deal with it.

I bet that's something you wouldn't have thought of this so-called fearless leader. Ha. There's a lot of things I've done you probably wouldn't attribute to me either. I'm not so perfect if you really knew me. I've done things you'd blush yourself silly over. I've done drugs, I've been low, only to get high. I've considered suicide, I drink to forget, and I have, and will resort to violence. I disgust myself, and have no self-esteem. See? I'm not so perfect. But this was all teenage angst. I thought I had handled it. I changed my life. I got an education and I found a new hobby; I had a good thing going for me. I had myself a good job, a good girl, and a good home. Then all of a sudden in a matter of hours I become captain of this team. I never wanted this. Never. And with this new life, all my angst has returned, and I can't stop it. I hate it here, and I want to go home. I want out. But I'm not supposed to think like this, I'm supposed to be the perfect, fearless leader. I'm not supposed to be hiding my deafness like it be a disease, I'm not supposed to be forcing a child to lie and watch out for me, to uphold this fabrication, and yet I am. Ha, what a joke I've turned out to be.

But don't you judge me. You don't know me. You thought you did before, remember? You were wrong about my perfect little life, and you're wrong now too. You have no idea. The frustration of restriction is beyond comprehension. The fact that people view me as inferior and stupid, and see my language as retarded, is what I've dealt with my entire life. So don't you judge me. You don't know me. Did you know that I've had Dive in my custody since he was fourteen? Did you know that I helped my mother overcome her grief of my father's death, while I was battling my own? Did you know that at sixteen I took the pills from my mother away, brought to the hospital, and waited the night out? Did you know I suffered the humiliation of a stepbrother, throwing his hands in front of my face, mocking me, in front of my friends, and teachers, and still said nothing, to keep the peace for my family? Did you know that no matter how much shit I get forced to deal with, and no matter how much I want out, I will never, ever leave anyone behind? I am a good person, son, brother, and fuck it, captain too. But I bet you didn't know that either.

I zone back to reality and see Nosedive is trying to get my attention, he's been shaking my arm for a while.

"What", I finally say.

"I'm bored", he says.

"I know", I reply, "Go read something."

He pouts.

"What do you want me to do", I ask him

He smiles mischievously, and before I know it, I'm pinned on the floor, with my brother sitting on top of me. I do love this kid, he is constant hope, and sometimes I think, if not for him, I would have pulled that trigger a while ago. But as much as I would like to run, I never turn my back on my responsibilities, especially my most important one. I smile back, and flip him over, and the two of us engage in a wrestling series. It doesn't take long, before I successfully pin him, and sit on top of him. Although I do put a lot of my body weight on my knees, he's a small kid, and I'm huge, I don't want to hurt him, much. My brother is laughing, and I guess I am too, but the fun ends, as my brother throws his eyes to the door. I look in the direction and I find Mallory staring at us.

"What are you doing", she asks.

I love Mallory's speech pattern. She is fantastically easy to lip-read. She says simple things, and doesn't have any kind of speech impediment accompanying it.

I shrug, "He was bored", I say.

"So you decided to kill him", she asks.

"Ah you wouldn't have missed him."

I can feel my brother struggling under me, that is his signal to me, that he is going to talk. I look down at him as he wanted.

"Please", he says, "You'd all die of boredom without me."

Mallory rolls her eyes, as I choke him. I smile for myself, and look up at Mallory.

"Anyway", she says, "What do you guys want to eat for dinner?

My brother who has found his wrist, taps my leg, and starts talking, "We doing take out?"

She nods.

"Pizza", he asks.

I nod my head, "Yeah that sounds good to me."

Ha, sounds good. Funny. Don't get it? Yeah, you do. Come on, "sounds" funny. There you go. No? Whatever.

"Alright", she says, "I'll go order."

"What about everyone else", I ask.

"They'll survive", she says, "I don't feel like finding everyone else. I've been calling everyone for a while now and no one ever answers. So I found the two of you and that is it now…"

I assume she continues to rant as I look down at Nosedive. He shakes his head no at me. Okay, so than he hadn't heard her calling. Yes, the two of us have grown to the point where we know what each other are thinking. Cool? Maybe, or maybe it just means that we've been spending too much time with each other and need to get lives. I hope to think it's not the latter.

"Where were you calling from", I ask.

"The kitchen", she says.

My brother taps my leg, and starts speaking.

"…don't you think it would have been better if you actually called from where people could hear you? It's just a guess."

She growls and leaves the room. And I resume back to strangling my brother. He taps my leg furiously, and I stop, and get off of him, allowing him to get some breath back. Bad mistake. He tackles me down and the two of us are on the floor again. Finally I stand up bringing him with me, and tell him that we need to set the table.

"Why", he asks.

"Did you see Mallory before?"

"Yeah."

"Do you really want to anger her anymore? If she sets that table, we'll all hear about it for a month. Plus it is the right thing to do."

My brother scowls, but then pokes me again so my attention is facing him once again,

"Can we set the table my way", he asks.

I smile remembering all the fun times we have had setting the table, "his" way, but too many things end up getting broken "his" way.

"Sorry kiddo", I say, "You know we're not allowed to have fun."

He laughs, and follows me into the kitchen. Sometimes I worry about him. He's been through a lot in sixteen years, but he's a strong kid. I look around and I don't see anyone.

"You be my ears okay", I tell him. It's not so much of a question, more of a statement, but I always feel the paranoid need to tell him that. I don't know why I have to do it, I've trusted this kid with my life at points when in battle with Dragonous, and even more important, I've trusted him with my secret.

I start signing to him, its more comfortable, it is after all my language. My brother and I usually don't dare to sign because someone could see it, but sometimes you just have one of those days. As I said, he's fluent, and has been my secret interpreter for everything I don't understand. I've swore him to secrecy to never expose my deafness. He doesn't really understand it, since he knows that I am capable, but after me telling him he is naïve, (I'm the older brother, he listens because of that mere fact) he promised to not tell, and help me pull off the hearing thing. He is completely loyal to me, which I remind myself on the days that I want to strangle the poor kid. He's in the middle of saying something than drops his hands, and shakes his head no.

I get the point, someone is coming. In a few seconds, Grin enters the room.

"Hey", he says. "We're eating soon?"

Ah finally, normal talking. I guess hunger brings out normalcy in people.

"Yeah", I say, "Mallory ordered pizza."

"You guys need help", he asks.

I shake my head no.

Ah, as I place the napkin under the plate, I miss something he says. I look to Nosedive who is waving him off, to wherever he's going.

"He's going for a walk," Divey tells me.

Guess he's not as hungry as I thought, interesting. He always confuses me.

My brother has always been my little interpreter. When I was in high school, Canard forced me to join the hockey team, (the coaches saw me, and begged me to join), which I ended up loving, only for a problem to arise. Yeah, because I'm special like that. The problem turned out to be that the team couldn't afford to the pay the interpreter to come along and it was deemed unsafe and stupid for me to not have an interpreter. (I couldn't lip read as well at that point.)

Here is where Nosedive comes in. Canard came up with the brilliant idea that Nosedive could interpret for me, and the school wouldn't have to pay him. The coaches were hesitant because at the time, Nosedive was six, (and fluent might I add, just as he was in English). However, there was no one else that could match my goalie skills, so they took a chance and relented into the idea. So, Nosedive got dragged along. It pretty much worked out, except one night. That night was the worst night of my entire life, and the reason that night went so horrible was because I was, I mean am, deaf. That was one of the big events of my life that really made me hate deaf.

That's me going against my culture again. Most deaf people don't think like me, but whatever.

Anyway, every summer since then he gave up every summer and interpreted for me. You know what kind of commitment it takes to do that? He has never used it in an argument, he has never gone out of his way to guilt me, never, and for that I will forever respect him. Not many people will do things and expect nothing in return. I had once asked him, why he did it for me, and his simple response was because we were brothers, and that if he asked me again he'd punch me.

I suddenly feel the table shaking, and I know that Nosedive is hitting it to tell me that someone is coming. I look to the doorway and I see Mallory coming in from another room, with the pizza. He alerts me so I know to look up and read lips when people start talking, otherwise it would be too chaotic. Soon everyone piles in and we all begin to eat. I sit next to my brother, because one he is my brother, and two, because dinner can be difficult and I might need him. Everyone talks at the same time, and everyone can contribute to the conversation so quickly that is can very hard to keep up, especially when you're a deaf person pretending not to be.

And they're off, and as they continue to talk about something I get lost in my own self-misery, hating myself once again, well hey, at least its familiar territory. As I continue to self-loathe the alarm goes, lucky for me the alarm includes flashing red lights. We all look at each other, change our clothes, curse to ourselves, and leave the dinner table as we pile into the migrator.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Hello, you're still here? Well allow me to update you on the current situation at hand. I, along with Mallory, and Tanya are chained by our hands against a wall. As a deaf person, this truly aggravates me, because my hands are my method of communication, however I have to remind myself that I'm not deaf today. Anyway, we stand here, as Tanya successfully sends out an emergency signal to Grin, who as of now is our last chance. Remember he went out on his walk to clear his head or something. Ha, I'm sure this isn't his idea of clearing his head, but whatever, its not like I planned this.

Duke and Nosedive were selected by the Saurians and taken out of our holding cell. They wanted codes, and when none of us answered them, they took Dive and Duke. Why? One, because Duke has led a criminal life and they find it to be easier to get something out of him, if they in return offer him something, or if they promise not to hurt him. They took Nosedive because he is the youngest and probably the easiest to break at first glance. Too bad they don't know my brother very well. But of course these are all assumptions. I'm hoping I'm wrong, I'm hoping that they took the two of them back there to sign a peace treaty between both sides, but between you and me, I can't even force myself to believe that lie.

I don't like this at all. I am getting a sickening feeling that something horrible is happening, and more that something will happen and I won't be able to understand it. I am becoming increasingly dependent on Grin, and hoping that he will be able to get us out of here. I see a shadow and shoot my head up and see Duke. Shit.

He is bruised up pretty rough. He is now sporting a black eye, and holding his ribs. This is bad. Blood is pouring from the right of his forehead and dripping onto his armor turning it a darker color. He looks up and nods just to say that he kept his mouth shut. I almost wish he hadn't. They put him in the shackles that we are all currently sporting, but unlike us he is pained to hold the position, probably because of the ribs. I can see him gritting his teeth and growling something nasty at the guard, who in return punches him hard in the gut. He winces, says nothing, and settles for a glare. Damn, this is bad.

I look to Tanya, "How are we doing?"

"Five minutes", she responds knowing I want to know where Grin is.

I nod my head accepting that time lot. I am increasingly worried about my brother. That kid has been through so much already. I can't bear to have him go through more. One person shouldn't be that burdened with so many problems. I would gladly switch places with him, but life wouldn't allow that. Life would prefer that I pretend to deny a major part of myself to my colleagues. Who would have guessed?

"You alright", I ask Duke.

"I'll survive", he responds.

I'm glad he responds with a short answer, it's easier to understand. I would love to ask about Nosedive, but seeing how he is in excruciating pain, I don't think he'd appreciate that question right now. I don't honestly think I can handle my brother coming in looking like Duke, and isn't that selfish of me? I watch the door intently and finally after it seems like eternity, two guards escort my brother into the room.

They're holding him up, probably because he can't stand on his own two feet. He is clutching his ribs like Duke, and is bleeding from his head as well, only the blood is coming from a different location on the head. Pieces of glass reflect off of him, and I can imagine what had happened. He is also drenched, and is shivering. I have no idea how he got wet, and yet again I probably don't want to know. They throw my brother to floor, where he then looks up at me. He looks afraid, but he trusts me. He shouldn't.

He makes eye contact, and offers a weak smile. I fingerspell (it is spelling each letter in the word, i.e. cat becomes c-a-t) that help is coming, because my hands are separated from each other. It works alright considering that fingerspelling only takes the use of one hand, and it's better than nothing, and it works because the team doesn't notice it. My brother nods in affirmation and looks slightly relieved. He then collapses onto his back.

Before I know it, I can see the girls and Duke screaming furiously. I don't know what is happening, and I don't like this. I calm myself and look to whom Duke is screaming. It is the guard and he's yelling at him. I can infer this based on eye contact. It is extremely hard to read lips when the person is not facing you, but I refuse to let myself panic. I stay in control of my emotions and try to make out what is happening. Than I realize it. My brother is jerking slightly. He looks like his choking on something, but because he is on his back, whatever it is, it won't come out. The guard, not sure of what to do, but knowing better than to let a prisoner die under his watch, he picks up my brother and puts him on his stomach. My brother manages to obtain some energy to allow himself to spit up the blood that he was choking on. Well isn't that a lovely thought. My brother choking on his own blood. I can feel myself losing control.

"Tanya", I shout angrily, "Tell me something".

The guard looks confused, but doesn't do anything. Stupid man, he shouldn't allow us to be speaking with each other, but he what does he know? It doesn't take an intelligent person to beat the hell out of someone.

"Waiting for your say so", she responds looking at me oddly. Well damn, I was too busy looking at Nosedive than her direction, and in that meantime she probably told me Grin was here. Yes Grin is here. I just need to tell him when to enter. The guard is too close to Nosedive, and could take him hostage. There's no way we could avoid that. I need that guard to resume to his position outside the holding cell. But he has other plans.

He picks Nosedive up by the hair, and brings him up close and personal to me and everyone else. He takes a blade out and puts it against my brother's arm. He's shouting something, and I don't need to be hearing to know what he is threatening. They all are looking at me. It's different when you, yourself give up personal safety in exchange for denying information. To put someone else's safety in your hands is a completely different situation. Especially when it's your own brother. Scratch that, your baby brother. They are all waiting to see what I do, and I now know, that if any harm is to come to my brother it will be because I will allow it. They will all follow my lead, and that makes me sick to my stomach. If I ever see Canard again, I'll kill him for this; I should have never been made captain of this stupid team. Nonetheless, I might have a plan.

"Nosedive", I tell him, "You doing okay buddy?"

My neglect to the guard seems to piss him off, as he starts screaming at me. Something about if I think this is a game. I honestly don't care what he says right now, especially since him screaming at me, isn't truly intimidating, hello I'm deaf. So I keep talking to my brother. I think I just may have one last plan up my sleeve.

"When we get home", I tell Nosedive, "Me and you, can go see a car show." (My brother loves anything to related to cars).

The guard seems furious that I am not listening. My plan is that he'll neglect my brother, come close enough to me, and then I can order Grin in. I can handle the guard if he takes me hostage, better than Nosedive. Plus, the angrier this guy gets, the less control he looses on himself and the situation.

"Doesn't that sound like fun", I say and emphasize the word, "sound". That was just for my brother, only he could understand, considering how no one else knows that nothing "sounds" like fun for me. This inside joke manages to bring a smile to my brother's face, and as he starts to laugh and cough at the same time, the guard slashes his arm. My brother screams, and holds him arm. I look away. If I can't see it, than its not happening. That is my deaf world, if I don't see it, than I don't know it. But I can't choose to look away, I have a job to do. I will not runaway. So I force myself back to reality, and look at my brother.

"Come on Nosedive", I coax him, "Talk to me."

"When is the show", he asks, obeying me. Poor kid, he'll do anything I say, since I'm his older brother. I wonder when he'll figure out what a failure I am, and he'll abandon this intense loyalty to me. Can't he see, that I'm only hurting him?

The guard screams something, which I think was supposed to be "shut up".

"Aw", I say, "What's wrong? Don't like something?"

This guy is a control freak, and every little command that we don't obey angers him further. And so I decide to really go all out, and I look into his eyes. The eye contact infuriates him and he comes stomping over to me, and that is all I need.

"Tanya", I bark.

She knows what I'm telling her, and within fifteen seconds, Grin comes in, gun up and aimed. The guard immediately puts his hands up, and backs over to the wall. Grin goes over and pats him down, takes his weapon away and handcuffs him. He takes the keys, but not first before looking at Nosedive with shock. He releases Duke first, who at this point has passed out, I'm assuming from the pain. He lies him down gently, and then goes to us three.

After I am released, I order Grin to carry Duke, and yes I am well aware that other guards could be coming in any second. I go over to my brother.

"Can you walk", I ask.

Nosedive shakes his head no, embarrassed.

"Lean on me", I tell him, as I help him stand.

He puts his weight on me, and swings his arm around my neck. I am careful to avoid hurting his ribs when I put my arm around him to support him. I can feel him shivering against me.

"Easy Dive", I whisper to him.

"I'm cold", he signs. This is okay considering the sign for cold is shaking yours arms, imitating true coldness, and the sign for "I'm" is just pointing at yourself.

I surprise him, by signing back, I don't want the rest of the team to hear our personal conversation, especially since admitting any kind of weakness to my brother means embarrassment. Plus the team isn't really paying attention, and we have our backs turned to them.

"I know", I sign, "Everything will be okay. I have Duke's sweatshirt in the van."

My brother smiles, "The one, that I said was in the wash", he signs to me.

I nod my head smiling too.

"Come on", I tell him, no longer signing, seeing how the team is now starting to waiting for my next command.

"Alright everyone", I say, "Let's head out."

The six of us, quickly leave the cell and out to the migrator. Divey and I trail behind. It's not that my brother hurt his leg, it's that he's exhausted and doesn't have the energy to walk. Plus with the blood pouring out, I'm sure he's feeling dizzy. On the upside however, Duke has come back to consciousness, and is protesting about being carried. Well too bad.

Mallory takes the duckcycle, which brought Grin here, as Grin comes into the van with us because of Duke. As much as I don't want to, I have to drive. I would rather be with my brother, but unfortunately I don't have that option. Tanya needs to be able to examine Duke, as Grin can help Nosedive. No, Grin isn't a doctor, but his medical expertise overweighs my CPR certificate. I start the car up and bring us out. Angrily, I drive to get home as soon as possible. Since I have to watch the road, and not anyone's lips, I have no clue what is happening, and that pisses me off even more.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to those who have reviewed this. It truly means a lot, especially now that allows you to see how many people that hit story and don't review. Thank you once again to everyone and their kind words.

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Three hours later, I am tired, but I refuse to fall asleep before my brother. I enter into the infirmary to greet the two of my teammates.

"Hey guys", I say softly, "I got tea, and hot chocolate."

Duke groans something, and I immediately look to my brother. He's laying down and there is no way with the accent and the angle he is positioned at that I can determine what he is saying. Since Duke isn't looking, my brother quickly signs that Duke wanted coffee not tea.

"Yeah I know", I respond, nodding as a thank you to my brother, "But Tanya says that you need to go to sleep, and I know you like tea, so deal with it."

Duke smirks and accepts the tea. My brother on the other hand, drinks the hot chocolate down with much more enthusiasm. I go to rest on my brother's bed.

"No", he says looking right at me. Rarely does he tell me no like this. Oh well. I'm six five, he's five four, let's guess who is winning this one, shall we?

"Too bad", I tell him.

I can see Duke eyeing us, but he smarter than to say something. Well good for him.

"Please", my brother says, "I'm sixteen."

"And hurt", I remind him, "Don't fight with me. You're only wasting the little energy you have."

My brother sighs and makes room for me on the bed. Good boy. Now understand the worst night of my life was when I was in the hotel for the hockey tournament. Nosedive, and I naturally shared a room, with another teammate. One night, my teammate was absent from the room, (yes breaking curfew) leaving me and my nine year-old blonde brat. Nosedive became violently ill over night. He was in the opposing bed, and I had already gone to sleep. I'm deaf, I couldn't hear my brother screaming in the middle of the night. It took the coaches forever to hear him, track down my roommate for the key, and then to call the emergency services after they determined that it was serious. I wakened up to the lights, and seeing one of my coaches hovering over me.

I remember feeling so confused, I had no idea what was happening, until I saw my brother being put onto a stretcher and being brought to the hospital. I felt so stupid, utterly stupid, and angry. My brother could have died. It had taken the coaches forty minutes to get my brother to the hospital with the ambulance. That is forty minutes of my brother screaming in pain, and there I was, just sleeping, like nothing was happening.

Nosedive needed to have his appendix removed. A simple childhood procedure, but my brother could have died because of it. If the coaches had never heard him, he would have died. Do you know how retarded you can feel for that? I felt so helpless and so angry that I couldn't help my brother. I hate that feeling. I started really hating deaf and hating myself after that. I felt like I could do nothing. What kind of moron doesn't help his own brother who is two feet away from him? I felt plain out stupid. I suddenly had come to terms that night, that I was really deaf. I had never appreciated that being deaf could be dangerous, and make me stupid. I fought stereotypes like that all the time, only to have it backfire as I couldn't even get help for a mere child. The humiliation of watching four people crowding around my brother's bed helping him, as I had slept away like nothing was happening, is beyond perverse. After that, I changed. I became aware that I truly was deaf, I know it "sounds" weird. But it's true.

Yes, worse things have happened to me in my own life. My father's death takes precedence over this small event, as does my mother's depression. The saurian invasion, takes precedence over an emergency room trip. Canard sacrificing himself, also fits the category. But that night, is the night that I realized that I hated myself. I realized I was deaf. Understand?

After that, my brother was forced to sleep in my bed, so if something happened, he would be able to wake me. It was only a few years ago that my brother absolutely refused to do it, saying that he was too old, and that it was embarrassing, and he didn't care how paranoid I was, cause he wasn't doing it.

But now, now my brother was seriously injured. Yes, I classify serious as being beat up. I don't care if its not serious in medical terms, it was serious enough to me. He had stitches in his arm where the guard had struck him, and bandages wrapped underneath his hair, which my brother had previously told me, made him look cool. In addition, he had bandages similar to Duke's, holding the bruised ribs in place. And alas, I had been told by Tanya that both Duke and Nosedive had received burns. Although I hadn't seen them, and Nosedive was yet to make recognition of it, Tanya assured me that they were there. It must be bad the way she was talking about it. Part of me is dying to have my brother tell me about it, and the other half is telling me that ignorance is bliss.

The two of us sit on the bed as my brother sips the hot chocolate down.

"Good", I ask him.

My brother nods his head excitedly.

I love that about my brother, little things make him happy.

"What about you Duke", I ask.

Duke thankfully, just nods in appreciation. A nod, I understand. I turn my attention to my brother, and deliver the bad news.

"Tanya says one week bed rest", I tell him.

My brother chokes on the hot chocolate, and sprays the remaining out onto my shirt. I go to say something, but he beats me for floor time.

"What", he cries in protest, "No way! I'm fine!"

"No you're not", I tell him, "Tanya says she wants to monitor the ribs. They're not broken, but with further agitation they can be. You don't want that, do you?"

"I'll risk it."

I go to say something clever, as Nosedive elbows me over to Duke's direction. I look at Duke as he asks me if the same rule applies to him. Or at least I hope that's what he asked. It looked like it, and I'm going to take a venture and hope I'm right.

"Tanya wants the same for you too", I say.

He visibly grunts, and I have myself a quiet victory that I got it right, but this self victory is soon replaced with depression as I remind myself that normal people don't celebrate understanding each other. I wonder what my little brother would think if he knew his _idol_ was such a fuck-up. Oh well, I have bigger concerns.

"Nosedive", I say quietly, "Tanya said you got some burns."

My brothers eyes go dark, and he looks away. Him looking away is his indication to me that he doesn't want to talk. He knows that if I'm not looking directly at him, I can't understand him. Too bad though, I'm the older brother, and I want to know what happened. I'm about to ask again as Nosedive once again taps me to look to Duke.

"Don't", he says, "Just don't."

"I want to know what happened", I reply back hotly.

Who does he think he is? This is my baby brother, I am in charge of him, and better yet, I am in charge of this team, and I have a right to know what is happening. How dare he! Duke shakes his head, and says something that I can't understand. Stupid city accent. My brother forces my head towards him, and I trust him to tell me if I need to answer to Duke.

"It's okay Duke", Nosedive says.

Then he looks to me, "Duke has it too", he says again.

Damn it Dive, let me take care of you for once. I wish I could say that, but the truth of the matter is, I truly do depend on him. Damn it all. I will not allow my anger to hurt my brother. Nosedive is not the enemy here. So I suck in my anger, and calmly continue to talk to my brother.

"Dive", I say, "What is going on? I thought everything was cool with the bandages."

My brother offers me a weak smile, "Yeah it is, but this one is different."

Without another word, he lifts his shirt and I see the problem. On the side of his stomach I see the "burn". It's not a burn; it's my brother being branded. The Saurian symbol is imprinted onto him, and underneath Le Ochont Dorium 02 is written. After I have examined it, my brother quickly tucks his shirt over the wound. Unfortunately it seems that my brother once again is showing a trait of my mother that if you pretend everything is okay, than everything _is_ okay. Funny, how things work themselves out. I decide I have to say something, but I fumble for the right words.

"What does the wording mean", I ask, not wanting to comment on the rest of it.

My brother shrugs and then points to Duke again.

"It means", he says, "Enemy…" and I can't make out the second word.

Nosedive signs the word, "prisoner" quickly for me.

Duke continues to talk, and lucky for me, that he has a fixated stare directly ahead of him. I am desperately trying to understand him, but alas, between the combination of the accent and the profile view, I can't make anything out. But, there is some silver lining. Nosedive can sign to me, since Duke isn't looking at us, its risky, but we like risks.

Nosedive tells me that the words context means that he and Duke were considered to be very important since they could offer information. I later find out, that the guards were planning on doing that to all of us, and than separating us all to different cells with other prisoners in the galaxy, (which gives me hope that they can still transport us to home) and then see who was to break first.

Then my brother adds something.

"Duke is zero one", he tells me.

I'm not sure what to say, so instead I hug him slightly around the shoulders, and tell him that I'm proud of him. He looks up to me and genuinely says thanks you.

"It's cool", I say.

"No it's not", my brother replies quickly.

"Hear me out", I say, stressing the word "hear".

For some reason, that joke always works, and my brother smiles up at me, now giving me his full attention.

"Okay", he says with a little grin.

"It shows that you fought for your country", I tell him, "It shows the bravery you showed. That is cool."

I decide to keep it simple and short. If I exaggerate the explanation, I am sure my brother will be overwhelmed.

"Yeah that is cool", he says, but then soon adds, "But Wing, I don't belong to them. I don't want this on me."

I exhale, and I have no idea how to answer that. But before I can do anything, my brother head is jerked to Duke's direction. I can see my brother asking, "how", and than Duke jerks his head towards me and points a thumb at me. I have no idea what is going on, and I am too tired to bother, Nosedive will translate it soon. I've been tired a lot lately. I can see that my brother is getting excited over whatever it is. Duke looks at me again, and asks "okay?" I can definitely make that word out, even I can't screw that up.

I look at my brother, hoping that I can make it at least look like some emotional scene. You know, locking eyes, searching each other's souls and all that crap? In reality I'm trying to get a translation, ah and the self-loathing is coming dangerously close. My brother nods his head yes, and I reply, "Yeah." Can't screw that up on my part. The shorter the statement, the less chance of me screwing it up.

"Please", my brother begs, "Please do whatever it is."

I throw him a strange look, as if for that minute in time, he had forgotten that I was deaf. My brother recovers, looks over my shoulder, sees that Duke is once again staring at the wall, and begins to interpret. He tells me that Duke has a plan to sort of fix the "scar", and he tells me that I might not be okay with it, which is why he wants to talk to me in private first. Ah, that is what he was asking what was okay.

"Okay", I sign, "I'll look into it. But if Duke is telling me that I might not be okay with it, it probably means I won't be. So don't get any hopes up. But we'll do something, okay?"

My brother nods, and accepts that for now.

It's too quiet, which is ironic coming from me, but whatever, I grew up with hearing expressions, instead of deaf ones. I'm used to my brother filling the so-called "silence". Well I guess it's my turn for once. I decide that now is as good as any, and so I'm going in. With one look, over to Duke, who is now thankfully sleeping, I begin to sign to my brother, which is so much better than saying it, because I want it to be personal.

I tap his arm to get his attention. He looks towards me, and damn does he look tired, and older.

"I want to ask you something", I tell him.

Nosedive instinctively looks over my shoulder to see if Duke is watching.

"He's sleeping", I say out loud.

My brother nods, and then struggles to smile as he asks me, "What's up?"

Okay I'll give you the heads up. I'm going to ask my brother to be my best man for my wedding. Yes, I am engaged, to Nancy Miller. With her shoulder brown hair, and small thin body, she has had the ability to continue capture my attention. She is a simple, plain, loving, deaf, yes deaf, (communication is important in marriages, or so I "hear"), woman. Yes, I like that joke, deal with it. We were supposed to get married five months ago, but it's kind of hard to have a wedding when the groom is on another planet. I savor these thoughts to remind myself not to really go overboard with the depression thing, because I do have a life waiting for me when I go home. Okay, now to Nosedive.

Wait, what's this? I should have had picked out a best man before five months prior to the wedding? Well too bad, ha although of course between me and Nancy, I've had this planned since I was five too, and yes, this is the wedding of my dreams.

"I was wondering if you were interested in being my best man for my wedding", I ask him. Yes I'm blunt, is that a problem? Deal with it. (It's also culturally deaf, but whatever, you know how I feel about that word, phrase, whatever, yes I said "whatever" twice, technically now three times, whatever, (four and counting) you'll live).

My brother eyes bulge out of his head.

"Who me", he asks.

"Yeah", I say laughing.

"That would be so cool", he tells me.

"Good", I say.

"What about Canard", he asks me.

"What about him", I reply.

"He's your best friend", he says, "And he's your age."

"And you're my brother", I tell him, "And if you question it again, I'll punch you."

My brother hesitates to speak, as he slowly realizes that he had told me the exact same thing previously. He laughs and hugs me, "Thanks Wing", he adds. I ruffle his hair, and he instinctively goes to swat my hand away. He winces, and brings his arm to his ribs.

"Easy", I tell him.

My brother nods. I tap him on the shoulder for him to look at me, which he does, although still clutching his ribs.

"You got to be gentle", I tell him, "Cause if something happens to those ribs, we all know who Tanya is going to blame."

My brother smiles, as he allows himself to be laid down by me.

"Go to sleep", I tell him.

"I don't want to", he tells me, "I want to talk about the wedding."

"Too bad", I tell him, "I'm the older brother."

And I don't know anything about the wedding. That was Nancy's thing. All I was told to do, (after I screwed up something with the cake) was just show up, and ha, I've managed to not even do that!

"That's not a valid argument", he tells me.

"Don't start that", I tell him.

"Start what?"

"That."

"What are you talking about?"

"That whole stalling thing."

"What whole stalling thing?"

"You always do this."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You've done this since you were six. Don't you have any other stalling techniques?"

"You would think so, but sadly no."

"Good night."

I then turn my head away, if I'm not looking at him, as you know, we can't communicate. I can feel my brother pounding at my shoulder, but I ignore it, even though I would love to sit up and talk to him. But I am the older brother, and I need to be the one that keeps control of the situation, he needs to sleep. Finally his incessant tapping stops, and after him struggling to become comfortable, (which is difficult considering the bed is flat and hard, and I'm taking up half of it), he finally falls off to sleep. I lay my head down on the bed rest, predict back pains in the morning, and follow his lead.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Ah, day three in my brother's mandatory bed-rest. I visit every now and then, as I go about my daily duties. You want the good news first, or the bad? Save the best for last? Okay, so the good news first, my brother has stopped trying to escape the hospital room. The bad? He's been puking all day after Tanya changed the pain medication. Lucky him. He's been cranky, and irritable all day, so I am trying to avoid er, I mean give him his space to the best of my ability. I am now currently washing the dishes, and I groan as I see Duke's reflection in the window.

"You're as bad as Nosedive", I tell him, "You should be lying down."

And than, something very odd happens, he smiles mischievously at me. That smirk could match Dive's. I don't like this, something is happening, and I don't like being kept in the dark on situations, which is funny, because throughout most of my life I have been. Duke takes a seat and keeps staring at me through the window. I am getting chills throughout my body, but anger quickly replaces it when he doesn't stop.

"What", I ask him.

Than to my absolute horror, he raises his hands, and tells me in sign language, "Nothing."

He keeps smiling. I drop the dish into the sink. Damn it! First, I would love to know how he found out I was deaf, and second, where in the world did he learn sign language? It than occurs to me that he has the power to tell anyone on the team. Did he already tell them? Shit.

"You might want to clean that up", he signs to me, and than I realize that I'm bleeding from the dish that I broke.

I whip around and glare at him, but alas he is not intimidated, even though I hover over him when the two of us are adjacent to each other. It's funny in my life, the people that I respect and sometimes love the most, are never intimidated by my height. But that won't stop me. I continue my death glare, as he slowly stands up and walks off. Well like hell, am I going to allow that to happen.

"Hey", I yell at him.

"Don't worry", he tells me, "No one knows."

My glaring doesn't not subside from this confession, "You better keep it that way", I sign to him.

"Ah so you really are deaf", he signs smiling.

Shit, I just admitted it! I could have just turned around and looked at him like he was crazy, he was testing me! The anger boils in my blood, as I feel myself loosing control and giving into the temptation of strangling him. But, lucky him, my comm goes off, (mine is set to vibrate). Tanya's face shows up, and lucky me, the screen is static. Well isn't that lovely, now I have no idea what she is saying.

Duke waves me up, I glare to him, "Don't you do that to me", I hiss. I will not be treated as a deaf person.

"You're deaf", he signs back quickly, and as I go to say something, he grabs my hand, preventing further conversation; it has the undeclared equivalence of "shut up". "Tanya wants you at infirmary something is wrong with Nosedive."

This immediately takes precedence over the Duke crisis. I glare at him one last time, and no I will not thank him, because I don't need help. I am not helpless, and I'll be damned if I have to rely on him. Shit. I couldn't even get the damn message myself.

"I don't need your help", I tell him, and than walk off to the infirmary.

I see my brother is being held down by Grin, a sight that I do not like to see, and than to my horror I see Nosedive is out of it. He is completely out of it from the drugs, and I realize I have just lost my interpreter. I like risks when they involve myself, but now when they involve other people, especially my brother. I feel a tap on my shoulder and see Duke is walking across the room to the opposite side behind Tanya. He's ready to interpret. Well isn't that nice.

"Tanya", I ask, "What is going on?"

She says something as she fumbles with a sedative, I have no clue what it is and I remind myself that it is Nosedive this situation is about, not me. She's nervous, and when she's nervous she tends to stutter and I can't understand one damn word. I swallow all my pride, and dignity and look to Duke for the translation. For my brother, yes I will do that.

He tells me that Nosedive didn't react with the drugs well, well that's obvious don't you think? Why anyone would waste breath on saying that furthers my agitation, but I say nothing and watch Duke continue. Duke signs hard-core sign language. It is not the English syntax, which surprises me more, he truly has a grasp on this language, (Dive and I sign pidgin). Another thing that surprises me is that he uses "old signs". As in English, new words are developed that mean the same thing, i.e. groovy has become cool. Same for sign. He uses the old versions of many signs, which propels my curiosity on where he learned sign, (it couldn't have possibility been a class, the classes teach new signs). Anyway, he tells me that Nosedive was trying to claw out the "burn" on his side. Well isn't that lovely. This kid is too extreme.

"Let go Grin", I tell him, "Let him go."

Grin obedient as ever, does I say.

"Tanya", I say, "Hold the syringe. He doesn't need it."

I love drugs, medicinal or not. I love the idea, that I can temporary leave and not have to handle life. When I was in high school I experimented with all kinds of drug shit. I personally love it, but as I've grown older, I've picked a more reasonable poison, working out until it hurts to breathe. However, Nosedive hates being suppressed. I don't understand it, but then again I don't have to. I respect my brother enough to keep off from the sedatives. I'll use that as my last resort.

I sit on top of my brother while watching for his ribs as I grab my brother's hands and forcefully push him to the bed. Duke moves his position closer to the bed, so that I can see him, and with his back turned, they wont be able to see him either. He tells me that Tanya is lecturing me to be careful, well too bad. Nosedive will live.

"Nosedive", I yell at him.

"Aw", he says, "What's the matter? Trying to relieve some sexual tension?"

I'm dumfounded for a minute, until I realize I'm straddled on my brother's stomach. Lovely, incest, that just completes this absolutely fantastic day, so I growl at him. Yes growl. I mean how else do you respond to that? If he's going to have a bad reaction to medication, I can too. Mature? No. Justifiable? Maybe. Satisfying? Hell yes.

Well, this only causes my brother to roar at me. Lucky me, I'm deaf, I can't hear him, and I can't hear Tanya who I am sure at this point is screaming at me. She'll live.

I hold his arms down with one hand, and with my other, force his face to look at mine. We make eye contact, and my brother settles. Soon enough, like magic, he falls asleep. Good. I release my grip on him, and he unconsciously makes himself comfortable.

I look towards Tanya, (who looks ill) and she tells me that she is going to have to take Nosedive off the medication. Poor girl is probably trying to erase the lovely imagery that the Flasblade brothers displayed. Yay, we're at it again, go us. Anyway, for this conversation I don't need Duke for, thankfully. Give me some dignity. She is looking right at me, this I won't screw up. Although, it might help the conversation on her end, if I get up off my comatose looking brother.

"What about the pain", I ask, while moving to the floor.

"I was planning on keeping Nosedive on the medication only for another day", she tells me, "It will only be one day. If his ribs hurt him, than I can give him over the counter pain medication, it won't be strong, but that's all I can do. I'm not risking anymore heavy medication again."

I nod and go to my brother's bed. She then leaves looking at little more pale than she did when I had first seen her, and I make a mental note to be normal around her for the upcoming days.

I'm going to sit with him for a while, just to make sure that he's okay, and I make another mental note that I need have a talk with him about that "burn". I don't care if he was drugged or not, that need for its removal came from somewhere. I see Duke move out of the room, and I give him no sign of a thank you, as I sink further into my own depression.

It takes about two hours for my brother to wake up; I've been watching the small television in the room since that point. It was actually nice, I was finally able to put on the CC (closed captioning, you know the little words that say what the characters are saying), and my excuse was, I didn't want the volume of the T.V. to wake my brother, so I had it on the CC and mute. I didn't need my excuse though, no one came in.

I feel that tapping on my shoulder, and I look down to my brother, he's holding his head.

"It okay", he asks me.

I nod; no one else is in the room.

"My head hurts", he tells me.

"Tanya said that your body didn't accept the pain medication too well."

Yes, I will blame the drugs for the headache that I probably caused. Hey, I'm no doctor, and I cannot say for medical certainty that it wasn't the drugs, now can I? No, it had nothing to do with me banging him down, hey what else was I supposed to do? Stop looking at me like that, we're brothers. Its okay if we're a little rough together. Hey, he broke my cheekbone once, so there, it's not just me. Actually, that was because I "accidentally" dropped his favorite toy over his head. Um, maybe it's better if I zone back into reality and stop entertaining you with all the details you need for social services.

"I was being drugged?"

"Yeah."

"How come I didn't know?"

" Just for the pain, Divey. Nothing serious, besides, I thought you knew."

"Why would I think that?"

"Cause of the tube sticking into your vein."

"I thought that was the IV."

"One of them is, the other isn't."

"There's two?"

I intake heavily, and with all of my power I don't smack him.

"Look at it!" I say in utter frustration.

"Wow", he replies, "There are two."

I really should just smack him. It would make me feel so much better.

"So the pain medication which was supposed to stop the pain, really ended up giving me more pain?"

"Something like that", I mutter, (yes you can mutter in sign language), relieved that he stopped with the investigation on his body.

"My head hurts."

I shake my head, "I'm sorry."

I really don't know what else to say to that. I decide to not tell my brother about Duke right now. He really does look like crap.

"Anything interesting happen", he asks.

"I'll tell you later", I tell him.

"I really feel like crap."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that."

"Stop saying statements like that. I can't do anything about it."

He glares at me, and than tries to sit up.

I can see him say something instinctively to the pain that follows it. He picks up his shirt to find the source of the pain, and then sees the burn with claw like indentures around it. He looks up at me curiously, ah so I do have to tell him about that. I wasn't planning on telling him that one. I didn't want to bring up bad memories.

"Like I told you", I say, "Your body didn't react well with the drugs."

"What does that have to do with a cat attacking me?"

"What? We don't have a cat."

"So than what was it?"

Hesitantly, I tell him, "You."

"Me", he asks.

I nod my head.

He sits back into the pillow, and than a slow smile forms, "Cool."

I roll my eyes and, I question why I ever thought that this would bother him.

"You talk to Duke", he asks me.

"Why", I ask him curiously.

"I want to fix this", he tells me and points to the "burn".

"No but I will", I tell him, which angers me more because I'll have to face Duke and that damn smirk face of his.

"Please", my brother asks, "I want it off."

"I promise", I tell him.

My brother accepts this, and slowly falls back to sleep. It's funny me and him. When we were growing up, well I guess he still is growing up, but that's not the point, no one ever knew we were brothers.

He has always sported that longer hair look, while I have always had a nice, clean-cut, not-requiring-a-brush, preppy haircut. But wait, there's more. As much as my brother hates to admit, (for reasons that I don't why), I was a prep during high school. Well, a prep with the team's sports jacket, so prep/jock, (who secretly would hang out with the "loser" kids, and smoke pot). That combination, the prep/jock thing, apparently means evil in my brother's world, but that was me. Nosedive on the other hand, much to my mother's dismay, was all out punk. The long hair, and black everything, and those annoying plastic wrist bracelets that went up to his elbows, was my brother. His style has settled some as we have gotten older, but the converse sneakers (much to my dismay can be found on Earth, lucky me), and the ripped up black jeans have stayed, (it was better than the baggy pants he used to wear, the ripped up ones, I can live with a little better).

I have always taken pride in what I dress, and always pay much attention to what I look like. That is the one thing about myself that I honestly really do like. I used to be a personal trainer on the weekends back at home; I loved that job, (I had given up on the drugs at that point, because it does take a toll on your appearances). Clothes, and body appearance have always been important for me. Although it's funny, Dive's style in public with me, didn't have that oomph I thought it would have. The first time my brother started dressing like that, I admit I almost had a heart attack, but really, I got over it. The two of us are cool like that.

We've always been different I guess. But I think our differences balance each other. For two different people, we've come pretty close, and I'm proud of that. When I used to tell people that Nosedive was my brother, people's jaws would drop. No one could believe that the blonde mess with fish-net sleeves, next to the letterman-jacket kid could be related. That was good, I enjoyed getting people's reactions, sometimes its fun to cause a stir. Man, Divey has been really rubbing off on me lately. However, there is one thing the two of us share. People have always told me that we have the same eyes, whatever the hell that means. I used to think they were talking about our eye color, (we both got blue eyes, but even that's different, since mine are more like a sapphire color, and his more robin's-egg blue, (shut up, so I memorized the colors in the Crayola box and interject them into daily life, (you don't even want to know the story behind that one)), but people always say it anyway.

Unnecessary Flashback (hey, its not like I'm going to wake my brother up for you entertainment, or mine for that matter)

It was like any other day-Ah sorry folks, we've been interrupted, by Tanya, and she doesn't look happy.

"WildWing", she says, I don't like when people start things out by saying a person's first name, that usually means something bad is following, "We need to talk." Oh, this isn't good.

I opt to say nothing as she pulls up a chair next to my spot on my brother's bed.

"Something wrong", I ask.

"Nosedive", she says, "He's developed an infection."

"Okay", I say, truly not following.

"It's serious", she tells me.

Fantastic, more good news. I am slowly loosing my mind.

"How serious?"

"He contracted the infection when being held captive-."

"How serious", I ask her once again, I don't think that she understands that this isn't another teammate on the team, we're talking about. This is my brother.

"It depends on how he reacts to the medication I'm going to start him on."

I nod my head, "So he can get better?"

She nods to me, "But-"

I hate when sentences start like that too, "buts" are never good.

"But, he needs to stay in this room for a long period of time."

Wow, Tanya I award you the most vague award of the day. Keep it up, and I'll give you the most frustrating too. Ah, but wait, Duke is runner-up on both of those, hmm, I'll let Nosedive decide.

"How long", I ask her.

"Three months."

"Why", I ask her, "He's a kid-"

"WildWing", she tells me

By the way, deaf people never state someone's name like that. It's not cultural, but than again I'm not culturally deaf, but whatever. The reason is not that I've already started you out on this tidbit is because the deaf are always looking at each other, so to state the name again really has no point. Just thought you'd like to know.

"I don't want the infection to progress, and mostly because, the medicine I'm going to give him contains the same components of the pain medication that I administered earlier."

"That made him sick", I state.

She nods, and now I get it. Well, my brother is going to be puking for three months. Ha, he's going to love this.

"Alright", I say, "I'm going to go out and get some stuff. Do me a favor Tanya, and let me tell him?"

She nods her head, as I fish for my keys in my pocket, and off I go. I'm going to go get some stuff for the infirmary room to soften the blow. Plus I'll pick up some goodies, like comics, movies, and a goldfish, (Dive loves fish). It won't be so bad. We'll survive these three months, somehow.

I walk out of the room and pass Duke in the kitchen when I'm about to leave, he's about to say something, so to opt for the three-year-old method and storm out and tell him, "not now".

………………………………………………………………………………………………


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Please review, it is quite encouraging. Thank you to all that have!

WARNING: "Slight" slash make-out scene

You would think that this marvelous day would end, but alas, I have no luck, if you have not yet determined. My brother has forced me to stay away from him, (yeah I told him about the mandatory bed-rest) and I had been doing my best to keep those wishes met. However, my brother retracted that order when he became bored. He looked like crap, more than he had before, mostly because I think his hope has been drained, but hey, its not like he's dying or anything. He'll live. Anyway, the two of us watched one movie, and play three rounds of war (the card game), until dinner was declared. And then something funny happened, a rare occasion, my brother passed on dinner, saying he didn't feel up to eating.

I don't like it when my brother doesn't eat. The last time he didn't eat, he was on strike against Hank.

Hank, allow me to tell you, is unfortunately my step-father. After my father's death, my mother was very distraught, and that's putting it lightly. She decided that she was going to pretend nothing was wrong, and than one day, Dive and I came home, and all pictures of my father had been removed from the house, and anything pertaining to my father (this was after her breakdown). Nosedive had a fit that day, considering how young he was, but I told him that everything would be fine, and maybe mom was going a "little" overboard, but it this would be the worst of it.

I soon ate my words, when a week later, (only seven months after my father's death), my mother started dating this man, (Hank) who had always had crush on her since high school. Apparently he had heard about the death, and he had come to my mom's "rescue". My mother became transfixed on the idea that if she remarried the whole family would be happy again, and if there was a male figure in the household, Nosedive and I wouldn't be doomed to failure, (she thought we would become delinquents otherwise). And so, after two months of their dating, and us meeting Hank, and his son, Rodger, (the mother ran off) she announced their engagement. Yeah, it was a bad day.

Anyway, my brother and Hank never got along, not that I do so much better, but Nosedive really went out of his way to make sure Hank knew he hated him.

It was the anniversary of my father's death, (he died in a car accident), and my mother was trying desperately trying to neglect the significance of that date, as was Hank. I at that time was no longer living at home, so it was only Nosedive and Rodger. Anyway, my brother wasn't feeling hungry, but Hank had made my mom's favorite meal. Nosedive said he was skipping out on dinner, he didn't say why, but my mother knew. So, to appease herself, she told him to stay, (if he was upset in his room, than she would to remember her deceased husband). Nosedive said no, and Hank told him to sit down.

Well you can imagine how well that went. It was a battle of the wills, and guess who won? Nosedive sat down, and then through the plate out the window, and declared he would never eat in that house again. Which he didn't. My brother became ridiculously thin, but he wouldn't eat in that house because he said he wouldn't, and so in spite, my brother lost twenty pounds.

I had been notified through my old hockey coach, Jan, (he knew us since forever, Dive since he was six and interpreting for me), that there was a problem. He knew better than to contact my parents. He knew how our dysfunctional family worked. He told what was going on and then reminded me, his door was always open, (we had lived with him on and off, several times), but this time I told him no. This time, I told him, I was taking Dive And I did, and then everything became good, like I can't even tell you. That kid gave me such a discipline, and such a balance in my life, like never before. Now, I wasn't just his friend, his brother, now I was his guardian, and I took that very seriously. Since that point, things sky rocketed up for me. I proposed to Nancy, she accepted, and I received a promotion at work. Everything had been going great, for two years, it was great, and then I find myself here, and I hate here more and more every day.

And now, Nosedive wasn't eating again. And that really pissed me off. I wasn't mad at him, I was mad at the situation I was forced to be in, once again. I don't understand why, but I guess when it rains it pours right? Whatever. I skipped out on dinner too, and watched two more movies with my brother, which we talked through a lot of, (some of these movies, had really bad acting, but it was funny to watch the dramatic scene being over-dramatized by the actors, that made my brother feel better) and then my brother finally fell asleep, at one in the morning. That's not good parenting by a non-parental unit, but oh well, the kid needed some fun.

You would think that I would join my brother in sleep, but ah ha, after so many bad movies, and war, your social graces decline, and so I decide now is the perfect time to go pick a fight with Duke. I don't care if he's sleeping, he'll be up in a minute.

I walk over to his door, and start banging on it. I see the light in the room go on, so I stop banging. He opens the door, with a you-gotta-be-kidding me face, but when he recognizes me, he smirks, again, man doesn't he have any other less irritating facial expressions?

"What's up", he signs.

Well, hello there misplaced anger. So we meet again.

I grab his hands and throw them, and him into his room.

"How did you know", I sign angrily, (if it were anyone else, I'd talk to them, but this is Duke, and since I can never understand what he says when he talks, I decide that signing would be best).

"Easy", he tells me, and yes the grand smirk takes center stage, once again.

I glare at him, "How do you know sign language?"

"I'm a CODA", he tells me.

This explains everything.

CODA for my non-deaf friends of my imaginary audience, (which might just get admitted into a "special" hospital, with "special padded walls", oh well I look good in white), is a term that stands for Child OF a Deaf Adult. This term is usually assigned to hearing children with deaf parents. This explains his grasp on the language, and it explains why he signs with the older version of signs, his parents raised him with the older version of the signs because at that time those were the signs.

I settle with that confession, I don't know why, but it becomes less unnerving. He tells me to sit, and the two of us sit adjacent to each other on the couch. I move to one end of the couch, as does he, so we can look directly at each other. With my one leg dangling off the side of the couch, I begin signing.

"How did you know", I repeat, "Did Canard tell you?"

"Canard knew", he asks me.

"It was his idea."

"Why?"

"Because-, wait stop! How did you know I was deaf? Who screwed up? Me or Nosedive?"

I have to know if he saw me signing or Nosedive, if you can't appreciate the reason, appreciate the competitive nature between brothers. I would love to tell Nosedive that it was his fault, we're fun like that.

"What are you talking about", he asks.

"Who did you catch signing, me or my brother", I ask.

He shakes his head. "I never saw either of you signing."

"Than how?"

"Wait", he tells me, "Nosedive knows sign language?"

"Yes."

"You don't follow deaf profile, you do realize this."

I nod my head again, and promise to kill myself sometime soon, if he gets into that.

"Dive really signs?"

He is surprised by this, because in most families where there is a deaf child, the rest of the family doesn't learn sign language and communicate in other ways, (my parents don't know sign language, only minor signs).

"Dive is different", I tell him, and "I lost my hearing at five, I start-"

"That explains why you can talk so well", he says.

I nod my head again and continue, "Anyway Nosedive was born a few months later, and I was determined to have my brother learn my language as I learned it. I didn't want to be separated from my family that way. So really Dive's first language is sign, but whatever, that's how he learned, I wanted a friend, you know?"

He nods his head again.

"So how did you know", I ask again.

"It was hard", he admits, "And I was very unsure of myself too, so I just went in for the kill, and once I "asked" you, I learned the truth."

"What gave it away?"

"It was an eclectic conclusion. I noticed that you mimicked the patterns of my deaf parents. For instance, phone set to vibrate, your TV has the CC-"

"How did you know that?"

"Don't ask."

I decide that it is too late, or early in the morning for that matter to press that matter. No more bad things can happen today and I have feeling that if I ask, I'll get an answer that I won't like. After Duke's fantastic discovery, Nosedive trying to kill himself, Nosedive accusing me of incest, Nosedive being a pain the ass all day (although quite reasonably), no dinner, and now this lovely conversation, I will spare myself the pain in knowing why Duke was in my room, which is locked by the way, in case you care. You don't. Whatever.

"Plus", he continues, after he sees that I'm not going to press the issue, "You always are looking directly at people, hearing people don't do that. At first when you did it to me, I found it unnerving because it's weird to hold someone's gaze for that long, and hearing people look around when they talk to one another many times, you never did that. Another thing is that you never jumped at sounds. You reminded me so much of my parents, and so that was why, but boy did you fool me for a long time."

I take that as a compliment but soon my depression reminds me that I shouldn't being taking that as a compliment because I shouldn't be pretending to be hearing.

"So", I say, "You're not telling anyone?"

"If that is what you want. I respect your leadership abilities."

I laugh. Leadership abilities, please. Doesn't anyone else see how screwed I am? Is it just me? I'm no leader. He looks at me oddly. I don't know why I'm laughing; it's been a really long day.

"What's so funny?"

"I don't know."

"Well glad we cleared that up."

"Yeah, well, alright I'm going to bed."

I wave him off, stand and go to the door, until unfortunately I feel him tapping me. Oh just kill me now.

"What", I ask him.

"You ever go to kindergarten", he asks me.

I nod my head. What is he talking about?

"Than you are familiar with the rule, where each person takes turns?"

I nod again, really not following on what he's trying to hint at.

"My turn."

"What", I ask, it's too late, er early for this.

"Sit down", he tells me.

"No", I say.

"But it's my turn", he says smirking again, I have now officially decided that I hate that smirk, "You got to ask your questions, now I get mine."

"Too bad", I tell him.

"Yeah for you", he signs, "You don't get to wake me up at one in the morning over nothing."

I growl, but sit down, it will be easier if I just get this over with.

"Why did you hide it", he asks me.

"I told you, Canard."

"Why did he tell you to hide it?"

It's amazing, within the six months, I have never had this much conversation between Duke and I, and the most fantastic part of all of this, is that it is one in the morning. I wonder if I hold my breath long enough, if I'll pass Go and get a free trip to the emergency room.

"Because", I said, "Deaf is thought of as a handicap. The enemy could have abused it, plus he was worried about people second guessing me. You know, people associate deaf with stupid."

He acknowledges that.

"But why not now?"

I shrug.

"Give me something to work with."

"I can't", I mean what am I supposed to say?

"Where is your deaf pride?"

Ha, he just had to go there. Why does everything end up centering around that? I have no deaf pride, I have no pride, I hate myself, and my life. Isn't that lovely? Yes, I know, but its one in the morning, give me some credit here.

"My parents-"

"I'm not your parents", I tell him, "You know nothing about me. Stop pretending like you understand where I'm coming from, because of your grasp on deaf culture, because it's not my culture."

"You ashamed of yourself?"

I stand up; I have had enough of this conversation. I don't know why I came in here, at one in the morning. He grabs my arm, and starts lecturing me.

"You always do this to yourself", he tells me, "And I don't even know you that well. But I know you well enough to know that you have some serious confidence issues."

"What are you a psychologist", I scream, (in sign language of course, and yes you can do that too, my hands are becoming red, and the signs are larger, but so what?). Damn, where the hell did he get this? I hate the fact that he could read me so easily. My problems are mine. I don't like other people knowing them, and I hate that he knew it so fast. Bastard. Seriously, how did he do that? No one else has been able to, ever.

"You should have pride in yourself", he tells me.

What does he know? He knows nothing. He thinks he knows, he presumes he knows everything, and that really pisses me off. Did I mention that it is one in the morning? So, I snap. I grab him by the collar, and shove him against the wall, when lucky for him, and for me, the hall light goes on, which illuminates the dimly lit room which is Duke's. I let go of Duke, and guess what? He's still smirking. I really will hurt him. I can you know. I go over to the door to see who could possibly be awake at this hour, and as I open the door, a blonde mess tumbles into me.

"Nosedive", I say, "You are supposed to be in bed!"

My brother looks up at me smiling, thankfully not smirking, I don't think I can take another one of those.

"I'm cold", he tells me, (in sign language), "And I wanted you to get me a jacket, but you weren't there, so I forgot I was cold and came looking for you."

I look at him, and see that he is shivering, ah stupid side effect.

"You forgot you were cold?"

"Uh (this is equivalent to someone just holding their hands in the air), yeah, something like that. Why are you in Duke's room?"

But he stops and his face becomes frozen, and his eyes are dancing and looking at me. I see Duke come up between the two of us.

"It's okay Nosedive", I tell him in sign.

My brother, who is still shivering, eyes bulge out of his head. He points to Duke, thinking that I hadn't seen him.

"Duke knows", I tell him, "Come on in."

Duke grabs a sweatshirt, (a different one, than the one that was supposed to be washed), and hands it to Nosedive. My blonde brother gets lost in the sweatshirt, and can't find the opening for the head. I help him put it on, and when his head pops out of the sweatshirt he's smiling and tells me thank you nervously, as the three of us sit down on the couch.

"You know", my brother says while signing.

Duke nods his head yes, and than to my brother surprise starts signing, "You don't need to interpret."

My brother looks at me, and than back to Duke, ha poor kid is so lost, and cold. I put my arm around him for body warmth, and for some emotional support, cause for some reason this is hitting him harder than it did me. He seems to shrink into me. He coughs, and for that moment, he looks so small, as if I could actually break him if I wasn't careful enough. I wonder if he blames me as much as I do.

"Who screwed it up", he asks.

"What", Duke asks again, not understanding the question.

"Who did you catch signing", he asks, "Me or Wing?"

Duke laughs, "What is it with the two of you? Your brother asked the same thing."

Dive laughs, and than looks at me, "It was so you."

Duke waves at us for the two of us to look at him.

"It was neither of you", Duke says.

"How'd you know", my brother asks, "And how do you know sign language?"

I decide to stop the conversation.

"No", I tell them, "Nosedive you need to go back to sleep," his appearance is really bothering me, "and put those tubes back in, I can't believe you pulled them out. Anyway, come on, off to bed."

"Tell me", Dive says pleading, "And I don't need the IV anymore. Plus Tanya is giving me the medicine through shots, which suck by the way. Now tell me!"

"He's a CODA", I tell him, "And he figured it out because I acted the same as his parents."

"Oh I see", my brother tells me.

And as the two of us are walking to leave Duke's room, my brother collapses, but I catch him.

"Dive", I say sternly.

"I'm okay", he signs.

"Come on", I say, "Let's go to bed."

Duke comes up and starts signing, "Why don't you spend the night here? Wing I still want to talk to you and, the kid can sleep in the bed."

"Nothing deep", I tell him, while still holding my brother, making sure the kid doesn't fall onto the floor.

He shrugs, understanding, and for some reason I submit, and drag my brother over to his bed. Nosedive goes down easily, and immediately after Duke starts signing. I know this goes against everything I am, but I think I am enjoying this.

"I wanted to talk to you about the scar", Duke said. "It's not going away."

"Are you sure", I ask, "I mean with time, it-"

"I've already seen a dermatologist".

"When", I ask him, amazed how this man spends his time.

"Does it matter?"

"Not really, but you do realize that you are on mandatory bed rest?"

He smirks, but this time, I think I might let it go. I look at him and I feel the anger beginning to creep up into my entire body as I realize that a friendship is forming. Damn it.

"Anyway", he continues, "I found an alternative."

Well I hope it's not Nosedive's alternative of clawing it out. Yeah, that really isn't funny. Maybe this is my sick way of handling problems. Who knows at one thirty (yes time has progressed) in the morning?

"But", he tells me, "I don't want to do it, if Nosedive can't. The two of us, bonded. We were both there, and we gave each other support. I want to do it only if Nosedive does too. If you say no, or if he doesn't want to, that's fine, but I won't do it without Nosedive."

That sends a chill up and down my spine. An ex-con bonding with a child while being tortured. My brother is growing up way too fast, and I don't think I can handle it.

"What is it", I press.

He doesn't know the sign for the word, neither do I, which is common in sign language. Words are many times fingerspelled. This just happens to be one of them. After the unknown word is fingerspelled a designated sign is assigned to it. It's just part of the language.

He fingerspells the word, and soon the letters form it. I don't think I like this.

"T-A-T-T-O-O", he signs.

"Safe", I ask him.

"Yes", he tells me, "I went to Grin's guy."

"Grin has a guy?"

"Yeah, you know he has tattoos."

"Yeah, one. I didn't see the rest."

"Do you really want to?"

I shudder at the thought and truthfully tell him no.

"Would the tattoo override the scar?"

We aren't actually saying scar, at this point we are just pointing to the area. Less intrusive that way, and this is also very common in case you think that I'm making up the rules as I go.

"Yes", he says, "I was thinking of hockey sticks crossing each other over it", he tells me, "You know _our_ trademark, not _theirs_."

"I need to think about it", I tell him, "Nosedive will want to, but I'm not sure. I need to think, and it's really not the best time to do it."

At that moment, Duke points behind my head, Nosedive. He's sitting up staring out into space. He doesn't look okay.

"Nosedive", I say.

He looks at me immediately.

"You okay?"

He doesn't respond, but comes and sits next to me. Damn, he's really upset. I don't want to embarrass him so I decide to keep talking to Duke. My brother falls to sleep eventually on my shoulder. Hmm, maybe my brother really does need this tattoo thing. It'd be good closure. Maybe I should make more decisions at ridiculous times throughout the day, or maybe I'm finally loosing it. No matter, this decision, I feel is right.

And Duke and I talk. Somehow we get into our high school years. Ha, and I thought I was bad. Damn, compared to Duke, I was near fucking perfect.

"So", he asks me, "When did you give up doing drugs?"

I shake my head, smiling, he's keeps kidding me and calling me a druggie like I was an addict, I can't believe we're actually bonding, "For the last time, it was recreational. And I didn't do it that much; I had become obsessed with doing all this workout crap."

"Sure, sure", he tells me. "Damn, though. I would have never figured you to be like that."

I smile, "Yeah well."

He looks at my kid brother, who is sleeping on my shoulder.

"What about Dive? He mess around with that shit?"

"Nah. He was never the kind of person that needs to touch the fire, to know that it's hot."

"Boring", he laughs.

I laugh back, "Don't worry, he had his fun other ways."

"Worse than you?"

Ha, "By far."

He looks at me oddly, as if he doesn't believe me.

"He used to cross dress."

He looks at me oddly. "Just for the helluva it?"

"Yup. Pretty much, and to piss off our step-father." He laughs, "And this whole drag racing thing. He always did love cars. And damn, he had this whole dancing thing."

Duke gives me a look.

"My brother loves dancing. He loves everything about it. He's one helluva of a partier, excluding the drugs and shit. Man, that kid would dance with everyone, boy or girl, it never really mattered, hell he'd make out with anyone too. Kid was a little slut."

Duke is looking at me oddly, but soon he breaks out into a laugh.

"He know about your little habit?"

"Yeah. I told him about it, when I thought he was using. I was wrong, but I was glad I told him. I was going to anyway, when he was older, I mean we're friends."

"Why'd you think he was using? And isn't that hypocritical?"

"For one, I did pot, not hard-ass stuff."

Duke looks at me suspiciously.

"Alright I did some serious shit, but like once, er twice. And with Nosedive, I thought if he did drugs, he'd go straight for that. He's extreme. So yeah, I talked to him about it. And at that time, I wasn't using anymore, I was speaking from experience, so it wasn't hypocritical like that."

"What made you think he was doing drugs?"

"For one, the clothes. He was all out punk. Plus, his friends, were bad influences, and with the partying, and then he seemed depressed at one point, so I just thought that."

"But he wasn't?"

"No, it was something else."

He looks at me oddly, we are after all sharing.

"Look."

I know my brother won't care if I tell Duke. And so, I decide to share.

I take my brother's arm gently into my own. Duke watches me skeptically, he has no idea where I am going with this. I go to the sweatshirt, and roll it up. Then I take the undershirt, and roll that up too, revealing my brother's dirty little secret. I gently move the arm forward to Duke's view, and he sees the scars.

"Shit."

I nod.

"How long did it take you to catch on to the cutting?"

"Two months", I figure, as I gently move the clothing back. "He finally owned up to it, when I brought him out to a park, just the two of us, and I told him some stuff about me, and then I brought him back to my apartment. And after that, he felt compelled to tell me. And he did."

"What did you do?"

"He was crying when he told me", I tell him, "I mean the kid was like fourteen. So I cried with him. And then, he promised me he would stop."

"Did he?"

"No, not at first. But I checked. I made him strip, and did a complete body search every weekend, and so yeah, he stopped."

"That'll do it."

I nod.

"Why did he start? And at such a young age. What about you, when did you start doing drugs?"

"I was eighteen. Huge difference. Anyway, he had his reasons. I mean, my step-father really gave him a hard time. He convinced my brother that he was weird, and a freak."

"Damn, I would have never figured the Flashblade brothers to be like this. I always pictured you guys as perfect little boys."

I laugh, "Yeah well. Perfect is boring."

"Be honest. You ever miss it?"

I have a feeling he's not talking about the drugs, but just that kind of life in general.

"Do you?"

"I'm not sure yet." He bites his thumb, and then continues, "I mean, what I'm doing now feels right. But, I'm not sure if I enjoy giving up that rush. That danger. It's so attractive, and I don't know why."

"I don't know why either", I tell him, "And yeah I do miss it. I loved smoking, I loved going to parties and getting beyond drunk, I loved dirty dancing, I loved getting away from everything, but in the end, its just running away, and once you realize that, the attractiveness of its danger looses its appeal, cause you'll realize you only do it, because it's safe and familiar."

He ponders this for a minute, and then looks at me, "Damn."

"Yeah well."

Then out of nowhere the conversation refocuses itself back to Nosedive.

"He gay?"

"Why, looking for someone?"

Duke rolls his eyes laughing.

"Nah, he's not gay. Farthest he's gone is only kissing other boys. Trust me, I made sure of that. Kid just loves having fun."

I had a gay friend and stuff, but I don't think I could handle my brother being gay. Life is too hard for gays, and Divey's is hard enough as is.

"Kids give him a hard time?"

"Nah, not really come to think of it. I mean, everyone loved him, and those who didn't respected him because of his reputation. Everyone at school always thought he was crazy and hoped that some of his insanity could rub off on them. Plus, the whole damn senior hockey team would have beat the shit out of anyone that had a problem with him, thanks to me. Besides, people that were curios would go to him and he'd just kiss them. It was nothing personal to him, although not everyone always felt that way, but you know."

Duke shakes his head while laughing, "So you expect me to believe, that this kid just had people lining up and down waiting to kiss him?"

"Apparently he's a good kisser, and as much fun as this conversation is, I'm ending it. Believe it or not, my brother's sexual escapades don't give me any visual I need."

"Wing, I haven't been with a girl in a long time, since we left PuckWorld."

I look at him oddly. I don't think I like where this is going.

"Sorry in advance, buddy."

He reaches over and pushes my sleeping brother down onto the coach to the side of me, and before I can do anything, my brother is both awake, and Duke is sitting on his stomach and talking to him. Damn it all.

My brother looks past Duke and sees me. He smiles shakily; poor kid is half awake.

"Let him sleep", I say, "Please for the sake of my sanity, let him sleep. Come get off of him, besides you're hurting him, you're heavier and-"

Duke turns so I can see him sign, and grins, "Nosedive pal, you're okay with this yeah?"

My brother nods, still half sleeping, and that's all the permission Duke apparently needs, before his attacking my brother. I can partially see him running his hands through my brother's hair, as my brother just lies there not truly reciprocating the intensity Duke is radiating.

"Oh come on!" I mutter. Just kill me now. I grab my hair; yes, I will pull out the little I have if it'll stop the pain from watching them.

They keep going and the make out session is becoming more aggressive, and since it's my brother on the receiving end, I want it to stop.

I tap Duke, hard. "Hey knock it off, you're hurting him."

Duke takes one of his hands away from my brother's hair and signs without looking, "No, I'm not."

They continue for a bit more, until my brother kicks my thigh. I know that kick. I pull Duke off.

"He wants to stop."

Divey never was good at standing up for himself.

Duke, breathing hard, turns to me, "Hey, you were right. He is good."

My brother kicks my thigh again.

"Duke get off", I tell him in my older brother voice.

He laughs, and ruffles my brother's hair, "Thanks kid, I really needed that." He keeps panting, and before I punch him, he gets off. "And now, I need a shower, a really cold shower."

He gets up and leaves to his bathroom as my brother sits up.

"You okay", I ask.

Dive nods, "He just was hurting my ribs a bit."

Damn you Duke.

"Hey Wing", my brother asks me, "Can I go back to sleep now?"

See, kissing to Dive is no big deal. He should have a TV camera follow him or something; it'd make for an interesting story.

"Yeah", I tell him, "Sorry Duke woke you up, I tried stopping him."

Dive shrugs, and gets up, and although I expect him to go back to the bed, he comes and sits down next to me, and repositions himself on my shoulder, and within minutes, he's asleep again.

Duke returns and shakes me slightly; I must have let my eyes rest for moment.

"Kid was okay with that right", he asked, "Cause he said he was but-"

"Yeah he was fine", I say, "I wasn't. Besides even if he wasn't, it's not like he'll remember it in the morning."

He smirks at me, "We should do this talking-late night stuff thing more often."

I agree- only without Nosedive or Duke anywhere near each other.

………………………………………………………………………………………………


End file.
